Technology-enabled sexual harms

This course considers the ways in which new forms of technology, especially online and communications technologies, create opportunities for sexual harms such as bullying, harassment, and civil and criminal sexual offences.

New forms of technology create particular challenges for preventing sexual harm. These challenges can be particularly daunting for those with responsibility for children and adults with vulnerabilities. It is easy for us to feel overwhelmed: out of touch with new technological advances, and shut out of the online lives of those we have responsibility for. This can feel very threatening.

This course aims to provide knowledge, and so reassurance, around this area. It considers the questions:

• What opportunities do new forms of technology create for causing deliberate and inadvertent sexual harm?
• What legal issues are there around sexual harm and technology?
• How does technology impact on harmful behaviours such as grooming?
• What can we do to discover harm in online spaces we are not a part of?
• How can we make good decisions in a frightening world, and help those we care for make good decisions?

This course builds on material introduced in the podcast series TDI created in collaboration with the educational charity NCFE. 

Those working in this area may also find another TDI Open Course, considering the Challenges of Technology, particularly relevant to them.